Applicators



March 6, 1962 J. AVERSA APPLICATORS Filed on. 19, 1960 INVENTOR Jose h! All E4954 In n-1':

United rates hatent 3,023,449 Patented Mar. 6, 1962 ice 3,023,449 APPLECATORS Joseph Aversa, 270 Lafayette t., Scarsdale, N.Y. Filed Oct. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 63,587 6 Claims. (Cl. 15-570) This invention relates to applicators in general and more especially to applicators to be used as eyebrow pencils, lipsticks, lipstick brushes, perfume dispensers or to be used to apply eye shadow, such as disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,867,829, and more particularly to apply mascara.

Arnong the objects of the present invention it is aimed to provide an improved cosmetic or medicament applicator characterized by a container to carry a cosmetic or medicament, a housing closed at one end into which said container is slidable, an applicator rod secured at one end to the inner closed end of said housing and extending therefrom through said container, resilient washers in the ends of said container through which said rod extends, a head on the outer end of said rod, said applicator rod having a substantially elongated smooth cylindrical portion extending through said housing and a serrated, fluted, or threaded portion extending from said housing to said head, a short smooth cylindrical portion between said head and said serrated portion, said container being movable along said rod into and out of use position, said elongated and short cylindrical portions registering with said washers in non-use position of said container to effect fluid tight joints, said head limiting the outward movement of said container, 21 knurled annular area on said rod intermediate said serrated portion and the inner end of said rod preferably spaced from the head of said rod a distance which will locate said knurled area inside of said container in non-use position and in turn spaced from the inner end of said housing so that said knurled area will be disposed inside of said container in use position, and a yieldable rod composed of a substance such as rubber, or the like, disposed in said container adjacent said rod with a clearance of about .110 inches relative to said rod or the inner face of said container and in turn about A of an inch shorter than the distance between the inner ends of said container to afford free rotation of said yieldable rod relative to said applicator rod, a cosmetic or medicament in said container and transmitted in part by said yieldable rod to the serrated portion of said applicator rod when the applicator rod is turned relative to said yieldable rod when the serrated portion of the applicator rod is disposed inside of said container in non-use position so that the serrated pontion of said applicator rod when moved out of said container will have the necessary but limited supply of cosmetic or medicament on the same for use, and a removable cap frictionally secured to said housing to enclose said container and therewith said rod in non-use position.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved applicator of the character aforesaid in which said housing and cap may be composed of an expensive material and fabricated with or into an expensive ornamental conformation and in which said applicator rod and container are removable from said housing when the medicament or cosmetic is exhausted, to enable preserving the housing and cap for a refill, as disclosed in applicants copending application Serial No. 852,638 filed November 13, 1959.

These and other features, capabilities, and advantages of the invention will appear from the subjoined detailed description of one specific embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the device with the cap in place.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse section showing the container in extended or closed position.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section similar to FIG. 2 with the applicator rod in extended or open position.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the applicator rod, plug, and yieldable rod removed from the container.

FIG. 5 is a section on the line 55 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a section on the line 66 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of FIG. 2.

In the embodiment shown, the applicator consists of a housing 1 having a cylindrical wall 2 and a closed end 3, an external annular rib 4 adjacent its open end 5 and a plurality of longitudinally extending external projections or bosses 6.

Adjacent the inner end 3 there is frictionally anchored the plug 7 having a central internally threaded opening 8 with a chamfered or flared recess 9 facing outwardly away from the closed end 3. For closing the unit when not in use there is provided the cap 10 having a closed end 11. To receive the ridges 6 for frictionally anchoring the cap 10 to the housing 1, the cap 10 in its innermost closed position has its outer open edge 12 engaging the rib 4 on the housing 1.

The active parts of the applicator are removably connected to the housing 1 and consist essentially of the applicator rod 13, container 14, plugs 15 and 16, and yieldable rod 17. The applicator rod 13 is provided with a short threaded portion 18 at its inner end terminating in a flared end 19 and having a chamfer 20 between the thread 13 and the smooth cylindrical portion 21 of the applicator rod 13. The outer end of the applicator rod 13 is provided with a knob or head 22 having a short smooth cylindrical portion 23 adjacent the head and then a short serrated, ribbed, fluted or threaded portion 24 extending from the smooth cylindrical portion 23' to the smooth cylindrical portion 21 of the applicator rod 13. Between the serrated portion 24 and the chamfer 26 there is provided a knurled annular area 25', the knurls or ridges of which are inclined to the longitudinal axis of the applicator rod 13. The position of the area 25 is predetermined for the purposes hereinafter set forth.

The rod 13 in operative position extends through the container 14 which has formed on its ends the plugs 15 and 16. The plug 15 consists of a washer 26 composed of a resilient material such as neoprene, rubber, or the like, provided with an opening 27 frictionally to receive the rod 13. The washer 26 in turn is provided with a metal cover 28 having an opening 29 registering with the opening 27 frictionally to receive the rod 13 and spun over the outer edge of the washer 26. The plug 16 is similarly constructed having an inner washer 3i composed of a resilient material such as neoprene, rubber, or the like, provided with an opening 31 fiictionally to receive the rod 13 which washer 30 in turn is similarly covered with a metal cover 32 having an opening 33 registering with the opening 31 in the washer frictionally to receive the rod 13. The cover 32 furthermore extends around the outer periphery of the washer 30' and is spun over the edge of the same. The disk portions of the covers 28 and 32 having the openings 29 and 33 respectively are disposed to face outwardly from the container 14.

in assembling, one of the plugs, as an instance, the plug 16, is secured to one end of the housing 14. Thereupon the yieldable rod 17 is inserted into the container 14. Thereupon the other plug 15 is secured into and at the other end of the container 14. Thereupon the applicator rod 13 with the threaded portion 18 in advance is passed through the registering openings 31 and 33 in the washer 3t) and cover 32 respectively until the rod 13 extends into the container 14 about one-half an inch. The rod 13 thus cooperates with the plug 16 to constitute a cork for one end of the container 14. Thereupon. the cosmetic or medicament is fed to the container 14 through the registering openings 27 and 29 in the washer 26 and cover 28 respectively until the container 14 is filled to the desired degree. Thereupon the rod 13 is passed along the side of the yieldable rod 17 and through the registering openings 27 and 29 in the washer 26 and cover 28 respectively until the head 22 of the applicator rod 13 engages the plug 16. Thereafter when the rod 13 is rotated relative to the container 14, the yieldable rod 17 will rotate in the cosmetic or medicament in the container 14 and being in engagement with the applicator rod 13 will transmit some of the cosmetic or medicament upon the applicator rod 13.

After the rod 13 is so extended through the two plugs and 16, the refill unit is then ready to be attached to the plug 7 in the inner end of the housing 1. The rod 13 and container 14 are then introduced into the housing 1 when the rod 13 will be alined with the threaded opening 8 in the plug 7 and when the rod 13 engages the plug 7 it is turned until the rod 13 is secured to the plug 7 and thereby the container 14 anchored against removal from the housing 1 until the rod 13 is again released from the plug 7.

From the foregoing it will be seen that as shown in FIG. 3 in the use position, the washers 26 and 30 will engage the smooth cylindrical portion 21 of the rod 13 to constitute fluid-tight joints in such use position. In turn when the container 14 is moved outwardly into the out of use position, the washer 30 will engage the smooth cylindrical portion 23 adjacent the head 22 and the washer 26 will engage the smooth cylindrical portion 21 of the rod 13 to constitute fluid-tight joints. In other words in both the use position, that shown in FIG. 3, and in the out of use position, that shown in FIG. 2, the fluid-tight joints will be formed to prevent the outward leakage of any of the cosmetic the housing 14.

In the use of this applicator, it is of course understood that the serrated portion 24 will acquire some of the medicament or cosmetic in the container and when ex truded into the position shown in FIG. 3, it will contain a predetermined coating of medicament to enable the user to grasp the housing 1 and apply the medicament by brushing the serrated portion 24 on to the eyebrows, eye lashes, eye lids, lips, or the like.

In practice, the housing 1, container 14 and plugs 7, 15 and 16 may be composed of any suitable material such as a thermoplastic, or a light metal such as aluminum, while the rod 13 is preferably composed of a light metal such as aluminum.

In the use of the device, in order effectively to agitate the cosmetic or medicament in the container 14 and etfectively apply some of the cosmetic or medicament onto the serrated portion 24 of the reciprocating applicator rod 13, it will be desirable for the user to turn the housing 2 relative to the container 14 in a direction counter to the cut of the thread connecting the rod 13 to the plug 7. In other words, if the thread is a right handed thread, it will be desirable for the user to rotate the housing 2 in a clockwise direction relative to the housing 14 before sliding the housing 14 into the housing 2 from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 3.

While any suitable yieldable substance may be used for the yieldable rod '17, depending upon the composition of the cosmetic or medicament in order to prevent a deleterious reaction on the rod, it is desirable to select a material that will be immune to the reaction of said cosmetic or medicament. In practice it has been found that when the composition for the yieldable rod 17 is selected from neoprene family, excellent results have been achieved.

In the claims for the sake of brevity, the word serrated will be used to cover not only a portion that is serrated, but also a portion that is ribbed, fluted or threaded.

The knurled area 25 particularly when the ridges thereof are inclined to the longitudinal axis of the rod 13, tend to incline the yieldable rod 17 relative to the rod 13. Furthermore, in view of the composition of the flexiblecondition of the yieldable rod 17, it will assume a slightly bent conformation relative to the straight conformation of the rod 13. These two characteristics cooperate to aid the yieldable rod 11 in agitating the cosmetic or medicament in the container 14-.

The container 14 with the rod 13 may be disconnected from the housing 1 and be replaced by a refill unit and thereby preserve the housing 1 which may be composed of an expensive metal or an expensive decorated metal, or the like.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made to the details of construction without departing from the general spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An applicator consisting of a main cylindrical housing, a closure plug at one end of the housing, a smooth cylindrical applicator rod secured to said plug and extending centrally and axially through and beyond said housing, a cylindrical container, said container having washers at its ends slidably to receive said rod, said container being slidably mounted in said housing on said rod, said rod having a knob at its free end and a ribbed section adjacent said knob, said container being adapted to contain an applicating medium to be transferred to said ribbed section when said container is moved to enclose said rod, said container in turn being movable into said housing to expose said ribbed section to enable a user to use said ribbed section as the medium applying instrument, said washers forming liquid tight joints with said rod to permit an applicating medium to be picked up by said ribbed section, and a yieldable rod disposed in said container between said applicator rod and the inner cylindrical wall of said container and substantially engaging said reciprocating rod, said reciprocating rod when rotated actuating said yieldable rod to agitate said applicating medium and transfer some of the applicating medium to said ribbed section.

2. An applicator consisting of a main cylindrical housing, a closure plug at one end of the housing, an applicator rod secured to said plug and extending centrally and axially through and beyond said housing, a cylindrical container, said container having washers at its ends slidably to receive said applicator rod, said container being slidably mounted in said housing on said applicator rod, said rod having a serrated section near its outer free end, said container being adapted to contain an applicating medium, said container in turn being movable into said housing to expose said serrated section, and a yieldable rod floatingly mounted in said container between said applicator rod and the inner surface of the cylindrical wall of said container and substantially engaging said applicator rod, said applicator rod when rotated actuating said yieldable rod in turn to agitate the applicating medium and transfer some of the applicating medium to said serrated section to enable a user to use said serrated section as a medium applying instrument when the applicator rod bearing the serrated section is extruded from said container.

3. The applicator as set forth in claim 2 in which said yieldable rod is composed of a plastic material such as neoprene.

4. The applicator as set forth in claim 2 in which the knurled annular area is formed on said applicator rod disposed within said container to cooperate with said yieldable rod to increase the traction between the yieldable rod and said applicator rod.

5. The applicator as set forth in claim 2 in which the knurled annular area consisting of knurled markings is formed on said applicator rod disposed within said container to cooperate with said yieldable rod to increase the traction between the yieldable rod and said applicator rod, said knurled markings being inclined to the longitudinal axis of said applicator rod to react to said yieldable rod to cause it to tend to cant relative to said applicator rod.

'6. An applicator consisting of a main cylindrical housing, a cylindrical applicator rod secured to said housing and extending centrally and axially through and beyond said housing, a cylindrical container, said container having washers at its ends slidably to receive said rod, said container being slidably mounted in said housing on said rod, said rod having a head at its free end and a ribbed section adjacent said head, said container being adapted to contain an applicating medium to be transferred to said ribbed section when said container is moved to enclose said rod, said container in turn being movable into said housing to expose said ribbed section to enable a user to use said ribbed section as the medium applying instrument, said washers forming liquid tight joints with said rod to permit an applicating medium to be picked up by said ribbed section, and a yieldable rod disposed in said container between said applicator rod and the inner cylindrical wall of said container and substantially engaging said applicator rod, said applicator rod when rotated actuating said yieldable rod to agitate said applicating medium and transfer some of the applicating medium to said ribbed section.

No references cited. 

